Supervisors vote to delay property transfer

The Jasper County Board of Supervisors met for its regular meeting Tuesday and voted to postpone a transfer of property to the City of Monroe.

Monroe wants to develop abandoned land into a bike path. A landowner was in attendance, and brought up concerns about her property being affected. If approved, her property would house the bike path. The board agreed to push back the vote until the land can be further assessed.

Jasper County Auditor Dennis Parrott informed the board that the new electronic TIF forms required a date to be inserted. The state required Jasper County to use the electronic TIF forms, which had never been done before. Parrott was surprised by the change of this otherwise standard procedure. He asked the board to approve his inserted date of Jan. 11, which it did.

Parrott informed the board that Jeanne Bridenstine approached him about preserving the original courthouse blueprint. About four years ago, Parrott found the original blueprints. The board agreed to lend the blueprint to the Jasper County Historical Society for preservation. The board will also make a digital PDF copy.

The board approved the Veterans Affairs quarterly report. The organization spent $10,816, an average of $832 per veteran. The program is offered monthly at Park Centre, Willow Brook Adult Center, Jasper County Community Center and Newton Retirement Home to establish relationships with local veterans.

The organization has done things such as made pamphlets informing the public of who they are, provide information about military claims like Agent Orange and organize the placement of a Korean veteran’s gravestone that had not been placed in 12 years.

Staff writer Matthew Shepard may be contacted at (641) 792-3121, ext. 425, or at mshepard@newtondailynews.com.